Broadband technologies jumpstart rural economies

— FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday that the agency’s annual broadband deployment report shows that the number of Americans who lack access to high-speed internet service dropped by 25 percent, from 26.1 million at the end of 2016 to 19.4 million at the end of 2017. The figure, an FCC spokesman said, reflects revised data provided by carriers for 2016. (MT readers may recall that last year’s report put the 2016 figure at 24.7 million.) The full report for this year is not yet public.

— Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel quickly disagreed with the report’s conclusion that broadband deployment is happening on an adequate and timely basis. “Millions of households — in rural and urban communities — have no access to high-speed service. That’s a fact.” The FCC said the data shows an improvement in rural parts of the country, with approximately 5.6 million gaining access in rural America.

Source: POLITICO Morning Tech

I will wait for the full report to see how the numbers were collected. If they used the Federal Broadband Maps or the Telco Self Reporting, there is a high probability the FCC numbers are wrong.